The arrival of the Cassini-Huygens probe at Saturn's moon Titan - the only Solar System body besides Earth and Venus with a solid surface and a thick atmosphere with a pressure of 1.4 atm at surface level - in 2004 opened up a new chapter in the history of Solar System exploration. The mission revealed Titan as a world with striking Earth-like landscapes involving hydrocarbon lakes and seas as well as sand dunes and lava-like features interspersed with craters and icy mountains of hitherto unknown chemical composition. The discovery of a dynamic atmosphere and active weather system illustrates further the similarities between Titan and Earth. The aerosol-based haze layers, which give Titan its orange-brownish color, are not only Titan's most prominent optically visible features, but also play a crucial role in determining Titan's thermal structure and chemistry. These smog-like haze layers are thought to be very similar to those that were present in Earth's atmosphere before life developed more than 3.8 billion years ago, absorbing the destructive ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, thus acting as 'prebiotic ozone' to preserve astrobiologically important molecules on Titan. Compared to Earth, Titan's low surface temperature of 94 K and the absence of liquid water …

A new isotope of Hs was produced in the reaction 208Pb(56Fe, n)263Hs at the 88-Inch Cyclotron of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Six genetically correlated nuclear decay chains have been observed and assigned to the new isotope 263Hs. The measured cross section was 21+13-8.4 pb at 276.4 MeV lab-frame center-of-target beam energy. 263Hs decays with a half-life of 0.74 ms by alpha-decay and the measured alpha-particle energies are 10.57 +- 0.06, 10.72 +- 0.06, and 10.89 +- 0.06 MeV. The experimental cross section is compared to a theoretical prediction based on the Fusion by Diffusion model [W. J. Swiatecki et al., Phys. Rev. C 71, 014602 (2005)].

The reaction of the ground state methylidyne radical CH (X2Pi) with pyrrole (C4H5N) has been studied in a slow flow tube reactor using Multiplexed Photoionization Mass Spectrometry coupled to quasi-continuous tunable VUV synchrotron radiation at room temperature (295 K) and 90 oC (363 K), at 4 Torr (533 Pa). Laser photolysis of bromoform (CHBr3) at 248 nm (KrF excimer laser) is used to produce CH radicals that are free to react with pyrrole molecules in the gaseous mixture. A signal at m/z = 79 (C5H5N) is identified as the product of the reaction and resolved from 79Br atoms, and the result is consistent with CH addition to pyrrole followed by Helimination. The Photoionization Efficiency curve unambiguously identifies m/z = 79 as pyridine. With deuterated methylidyne radicals (CD), the product mass peak is shifted by +1 mass unit, consistent with the formation of C5H4DN and identified as deuterated pyridine (dpyridine). Within detection limits, there is no evidence that the addition intermediate complex undergoes hydrogen scrambling. The results are consistent with a reaction mechanism that proceeds via the direct CH (CD) cycloaddition or insertion into the five-member pyrrole ring, giving rise to ring expansion, followed by H atom elimination from the nitrogen …

Using data collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II electron-positron storage ring operating at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV, the branching fractions {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} {pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (8.83 {+-} 0.01 {+-} 0.13)%, {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (0.273 {+-} 0.002 {+-} 0.009)%, {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup -}K{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (0.1346 {+-} 0.0010 {+-} 0.0036)%, and {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}K{sup -}K{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (1.58 {+-} 0.13 {+-} 0.12) x 10{sup -5} are measured where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The invariant mass distribution for the {tau}{sup -} {yields} {pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}}, {tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup -}K{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}} and {tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}K{sup -}K{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}} decays are unfolded to correct for detector effects. A measurement of {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} {phi}{pi}{sup -}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (3.42 {+-} 0.55 {+-} 0.25) x 10{sup -5}, a measurement of {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} {phi}K{sup -}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (3.39 {+-} 0.20 {+-} 0.28) x 10{sup -5} and an upper limit on {Beta}({tau}{sup -} {yields} K{sup -}K{sup -}K{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}}[ex.{phi}]) {le} 2.5 x 10{sup -6} {at} 905 CL are determined from …

We propose an experimental scheme to observe spin Hall effects with cold atoms in a light induced gauge potential. Under an appropriate configuration, the cold atoms moving in a spatially varying laser field experience an effective spin-dependent gauge potential. Through numerical simulation, we demonstrate that such a gauge field leads to observable spin Hall currents under realistic conditions. We also discuss the quantum spin Hall state in an optical lattice.

The recent Quantum Hall experiments in graphene have confirmed the theoretically well-understood picture of the quantum Hall (QH) conductance in fermion systems with continuum Dirac spectrum. In this paper we take into account the lattice, and perform an exact diagonalization of the Landau problem on the hexagonal lattice. At very large magnetic fields the Dirac argument fails completely and the Hall conductance, given by the number of edge states present in the gaps of the spectrum, is dominated by lattice effects. As the field is lowered, the experimentally observed situation is recovered through a phenomenon which we call band collapse. As a corollary, for low magnetic field, graphene will exhibit two qualitatively different QHE's: at low filling, the QHE will be dominated by the 'relativistic' Dirac spectrum and the Hall conductance will be odd-integer; above a certain filling, the QHE will be dominated by a non-relativistic spectrum, and the Hall conductance will span all integers, even and odd.

We study the Fermi surface instabilities of the Pomeranchuk type in the spin triplet channel with high orbital partial waves (F{sub l}{sup a} (l > 0)). The ordered phases are classified into two classes, dubbed the {alpha} and {beta}-phases by analogy to the superfluid {sup 3}He-A and B-phases. The Fermi surfaces in the {alpha}-phases exhibit spontaneous anisotropic distortions, while those in the {beta}-phases remain circular or spherical with topologically non-trivial spin configurations in momentum space. In the {alpha}-phase, the Goldstone modes in the density channel exhibit anisotropic overdamping. The Goldstone modes in the spin channel have nearly isotropic underdamped dispersion relation at small propagating wavevectors. Due to the coupling to the Goldstone modes, the spin wave spectrum develops resonance peaks in both the {alpha} and {beta}-phases, which can be detected in inelastic neutron scattering experiments. In the p-wave channel {beta}-phase, a chiral ground state inhomogeneity is spontaneously generated due to a Lifshitz-like instability in the originally nonchiral systems. Possible experiments to detect these phases are discussed.

The quality of random number generators can affect the results of Monte Carlo computations, especially when a large number of random numbers are consumed. Furthermore, correlations present between different random number streams in a parallel computation can further affect the results. The SPRNG software, which the author had developed earlier, has pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) capable of producing large numbers of streams with large periods. However, they had been empirically tested on only thousand streams earlier. In the work summarized here, we tested the SPRNG generators with over a hundred thousand streams, involving over 10^14 random numbers per test, on some tests. We also tested the popular Mersenne Twister. We believe that these are the largest tests of PRNGs, both in terms of the numbers of streams tested and the number of random numbers tested. We observed defects in some of these generators, including the Mersenne Twister, while a few generators appeared to perform well. We also corrected an error in the implementation of one of the SPRNG generators.

This Panel was chartered to review and assess new evaluations of work on fission product data, as well as the evaluation process used by the two U.S. nuclear weapons physics laboratories. The work focuses on fission product yields resulting from fission spectrum neutrons incident on plutonium, and includes data from measurements that had not been previously published as well as new or revised fission product cumulative yield data, and related quantities such as Q values and R values. This report documents the Panel's assessment of the work presented by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Based on the work presented we have seven key observations: (1) Experiments conducted in the 1970s at LANL, some of which were performed in association with a larger, NIST-led, program, have recently been documented. A preliminary assessment of this work, which will be referred to in this document as ILRR-LANL, shows it to be technically sound. (2) LLNL has done a thorough, unbiased review and evaluation of the available literature and is in the process of incorporating the previously unavailable LANL data into its evaluation of key fission product yields. The results of the LLNL effort, which includes a preliminary …

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For a given symmetric positive definite matrix A {element_of} R{sup N x N}, we develop a fast and backward stable algorithm to approximate A by a symmetric positive-definite semi-separable matrix, accurate to a constant multiple of any prescribed tolerance. In addition, this algorithm preserves the product, AZ, for a given matrix Z {element_of} R{sup N x d}, where d << N. Our algorithm guarantees the positive-definiteness of the semi-separable matrix by embedding an approximation strategy inside a Cholesky factorization procedure to ensure that the Schur complements during the Cholesky factorization all remain positive definite after approximation. It uses a robust direction-preserving approximation scheme to ensure the preservation of AZ. We present numerical experiments and discuss potential implications of our work.

Cd{sub 0.46}Zn{sub 0.04}Te{sub .50} crystals have been exposed to high density Ar plasmas in order to modify the surface chemistry and control the surface conductivity. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals that this bombardment results in a modified surface atomic ratio, with Cd being preferentially removed compared to Te. In addition, the native oxide is removed and suppressed for an extended period of time. Current-voltage data is analyzed in order to determine the effect on surface leakage current after exposure. It is found that surface leakage current can be decreased by approximately 2.5 orders of magnitude following Ar{sup +} bombardment.

The US heavy ion fusion science program has developed techniques for heating ion-beam-driven warm dense matter (WDM) targets. The WDM conditions are to be achieved by combined longitudinal and transverse space-charge neutralized drift compression of the ion beam to provide a hot spot on the target with a beam spot size of about 1 mm, and pulse length about 1-2 ns. As a technique for heating volumetric samples of matter to high energy density, intense beams of heavy ions are capable of delivering precise and uniform beam energy deposition dE/dx, in a relatively large sample size, and the ability to heat any solid-phase target material. Initial experiments use a 0.3 MeV K+ beam (below the Bragg peak) from the NDCX-I accelerator. Future plans include target experiments using the NDCX-II accelerator, which is designed to heat targets at the Bragg peak using a 3-6 MeV lithium ion beam. The range of the beams in solid matter targets is about 1 micron, which can be lengthened by using porous targets at reduced density. We have completed the fabrication of a new experimental target chamber facility for WDM experiments, and implemented initial target diagnostics to be used for the first target experiments in …

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